Apparently, I am not permitted to post the transcript of the chat that I had with customer service per the TOS, and the Moderator deleted it "per the TOS".

According to the moderator however, I am allowed to post a narrative summary.

Here is the narrative summary.

I asked the Verizon Chat service person how I could install the Family Locator App on my new Samsung Brightside phone.

She told me she would be happy to assist me and pulled up my information.

She then told me that Family Locator can not be used with the Samsung Brightside.

I asked her why not, since I had been told by a Verizon rep before I bought it that it could be used with the Brightside.

She said she would double check.

At which point, I replied I would wait.

She came back and said that according to her system, Family Locator can not be used with Family Locator.

I replied that I had only upgraded from my old phone because the old one could not use Family Locator anymore (it had been able to previously, but because it was old, Verizon had stopped allowing it to download updated software). I asked if I should return it? But I don't want to pay a $35 restocking fee if I did return it.

She told me to hold on one moment.

Then she asked me to login to My Verizon.

At which point she asked me to hover over the My Verizon tab and click on the Manage Verizon safeguards. Which I did.

She then asked me to click Keep Track of Family Members with Family Locator.

She asked me if I saw "Add to your Account".

I said that I see "Lines subscribed to Family Locator" and my three lines were listed.

She asked if any were my numbers.

I said, yes they all were, and that the main one which is a Droid 4 was the admin and participant, and the other two were listed as participants only.

She said, Oh I am sorry I made a mistake, Family Locator is already setup and you can get Family Locator, I was reading the wrong information.

I then said that I know it is setup, but I needed to know how to download the Family Locator App to the Samsung Brightside and I could not figure out how to do it, because the instructions on the web and that had been texted to the phone were wrong.

She said ok, can you go the Media Center please.

I did.

Then she told me to click on "Get it Now".

I told her there was no Get it Now, only choices are 1. Apps, 2. Mobile Web, 3. Music and Tones, 4. Pictures and Video. Definitely no "Get it Now".

She me to try option 1 "Apps"

I did that.

She asked if it said anything about get new applications?

I told here that it did not, just search or "shop for apps", and that if I search for "Fam" or "Family Locator" it says nothing found. If I click "Shop for Apps", then click "Tools and Applications", then click "Travel and Location" the only app choice I have is to download "VZ Navigator" for $2.99

She then told me that means that Family Locator cannot be used on the Samsung Brightside.

I said, well back to my earlier question, I just bought it. Do I return it? I do not want to pay a $35 restocking fee for something that Verizon told me would work, but does not.

She asked if it was within the 14 day return period?

I said it was.

She then said, well you will still have to pay the $35 restocking fee.

I asked her why, and told her that the reason I switched to the Samsung Brightside was because I wanted to use Family Locator and my old phone could not download it now. Neither can the Samsung Brightside, even though I was told by Verizon before I bought it, that it could. I do not feel that I should have to pay a $35 restocking fee for Verizon's error in information.

She then told me that when I signed the agreement, it stated that if I return the phone in the 14 day period that a $35 restocking fee is required.

I told her that she was right, I did sign that agreement (of course I trusted that the phone would do what Verizon said it would do). I asked that if I return it and pay the $35 can I cancel the 2 year renewal contract that I also signed.

She said that as long as its in the 14 day period the renewal will cancel.

I thanked her, and said I will be returning the phone, canceling the line and moving it to my corporate account at Sprint. I also said it was unfortunate that I had just bought a Droid 4 and Pantech Jest2 over 14 days ago, otherwise I would return them and move those lines to Sprint as well.

She said she was sorry that I have to cancel my line.

I told her that I was sorry that she insisted on charging me $35 for a mistake that the Verizon advisor I first spoke with made when they told me that the Samsung Brightside would be able to use Family Locator.

She then asked me if I had any other questions or concerns today.

I told her that I think we covered them all.

She told me it was her pleasure to chat with me today! And that I should please feel free to re-open the chat session if I need further assistance. She then Thanked me and told me to have a great day!

Then Verizon posted a green "info" addition to the Chat that thanked me for chatting with them and told me to visit their Online Workshops to learn more about my devices. Then it told me to click " End Chat" to tell us how the did today via their survey.

A few hours after I posted the chat transcript in order to help other people who have bought or may be considering buying the Samsung Brightside, I received an email from the Moderator telling me that I was violating the Terms of Service (TOS) of the community forum by posting the chat transcript, but I could post a narrative version of the chat if I wished.

What a complete waste of time this has been, but maybe it will help someone else.

Chats are usually owned by the company and companies can dictate chat logs are not to be posted. It is common.

I suspect the mod expected a summary. Ie "i bought a phone I thought would work with Family Locator. it was not working, so I started a chat session and found out the device does not work with the program even though the CSR stated it would and even though the phone is less than 14 days old and does not work as I was told, I found out I still have to pay a restocking fee."

Seems you made it a waste of time after the chat session was deleted by trying to all but post the session.

Thank you for taking the time to read and summarize my narrative for those that don't wish to read the whole narrative.

You may want to add to your summary that the Verizon rep told me it would work. That is why I posted a narrative as requested by Verizon, rather than a summary. Summaries can unintentionally leave out important information.

It is community leaders like you who make this Verizon Community work. I, for one, appreciate your efforts, and hope you will continue to contribute.

She said that as long as its in the 14 day period the renewal will cancel.

I thanked her, and said I will be returning the phone, canceling the line and moving it to my corporate account at Sprint.

If your contract on that line was at the 20 month point of the original 24 month agreement (the point at which you can upgrade, but not the contract end date), the contract renewal will end, but you will still have 4 months left of the original contract, so there will be an ETF if you cancel at this point.

If the line is out of contract, then there will be no ETF, but be aware that you become eligible to upgrade 4 months before the contract ends.

I can sympathize with your for being sold a phone you were told had a capability that it did not have. How disappointing, and frustrating! Perhaps you will find a sympathetic rep who can reverse the re-stocking fee, however, it's not likely as that is standard practice when returning a phone within the 14-day window.

Sorry for all the confusion you had with Family Locator and the Brightside. It can be used right now with Family Lcoator for Area Based Locations, but is not yet fully compatible with all of the Family Locator features. The FL software app is coming soon for the phone. That's why you were not able to see and download it.

I'm confused. How is that fair? If the guy was told the phone would do a specific thing and it didn't, he should get a full refund and the stocking fee should of course be waived. Furthermore he should get a gift card for his inconvenience and an apology. It makes utterly no sense. These are customer service basics. If this happened to me I would cause a fuss like nobody has ever seen just on basic principle. And the rep on the phone sounded like a non-thinking, non-caring, script-reading, clock-puncher who doesn't care or empathize and may as well be a computer. It's just shocking to me how companies can stay in business with this kind of behavior. Companies like Amazon, Zappos, Starbucks, Mad Mimi, etc., will go on a mission to make things right and their customer service reps have the power to judge a situation and make sure justice is served. It's only a matter of time till companies like Verizon have to change, i.e. stop paying zillions on marketing and top management perqs and start investing in a tech support community that's as beautiful as their satellites and products. I'm not blaming everyone, and I'm sure some of the support staff are wonderful and human, but this story makes my skin crawl, this woman was so hamstrung by policy and having to suffer through her answers was the biggest time-suck of all. And then who is this budone saying: "seems like you made a waste of time all but posting the chat session," nah, don't think so bud, but I guess you have your loyalties. And yes you left out the most important part in your summary. It was not a waste of time but a service to the WORLD that the chat was narrated. I really enjoyed reading it and I would do the same and probably more if it happened to me. Wow. CACoastal – we all APPLAUD YOU.